Finnegans Wake

III.4: Book III Chap. 4

Details of the various draft stages.

Compiled by Danis Rose and John O'Hanlon
Draft Analysis: III.4

2010 edition FW pages 432-459
1939 edition FW pages 555-590

III.4 Protodrafts

1925-1926 drafts

At the end of January 1925, Joyce left off composing Book III to concentrate on preparing various segments of Book I for publication in literary reviews: I.2§1 for Contact Collection, I.5 for Criterion, I.7 for This Quarter, and I.8. for Calendar of Modern Letters (aborted) and Navire d'Argent. With these out of the way, in October 1925 he sat down to compose III.4 or Dd. The early drafts were written in pencil in a large fiberboard-covered copybook (BL Add. MS: 47482a) in a complex, piecemeal manner. In or around June 1926, when III.4 (and thus all of Book III) was finished to typescript stage, he began to compose the early drafts of II.2§8; and, when that was done to typescript stage, to I.1, in both cases using the remaining blank pages of the same large copybook.
SUBSECTIONS A THROUGH T: 1939 FW 555-590
ARCHIVE DRAFT ARRANGEMENT
Joyce began composing III.4 in October 1925 (see Letters I, 10 October). He wrote it in small pieces, as it were making patches, nearly a full alphabet of them, with the intention of weaving them together into a seamless quilt. It is not clear how long this first stage of the work took, but it was probably about a month (see Letters I, 22 October, III, 5 November, I, 11 November, 1925).
III§4A.0/4G.0/4J.0/4K.0/4M.0/4N.0
First drafts of 1939 FW 555-555.02 / 565.17-566.06 / 571.27-34 / 571.35-572.06 / 576.10-577.35 / 577.36-578.02; October-November 1925.
III§4A.0+/4G.0+/4K.0+/4M.0+/4N.0+
Redraft of FW 555-556.22 / 565.17-566.06 / 571.35-572.06 / 576.10-577.35 / 577.36-578.02; October-November 1925.
  • MS: BL 47482a, fols. 9v-10r, 11r, / (10r), 10v, / (11r), / (11r), 11v, 12r, 12v-13r, 13v-14r, / (14r), 15r
  • JJA 60 (Book III Chapter 4): 130-132, 154-155, 157, 157-163, 163, 165
  • Notebooks used: SA (VI.A), N14 (VI.B.7), N19 (VI.B.19)
III§4A.1
Second draft of subsection A; October-November 1925.
III§4B.0/4D.0
First drafts of 1939 FW 556.23-556.30, 557.13-558.20; October-November 1925
III§4C.0
First draft of 1939 FW 556.31-557.12, with some extradraft material; October-November 1925.
III§4E.0
First draft of 1939 FW 558.21-558.31 (this first draft extends only to 1939 FW 558.25); October-November 1925.
  • MS: BL 47482a, fol. (60v)
  • JJA 60 (Book III Chapter 4): 141
  • Notebooks used: N19 (VI.B.19)°
III§4F.0
First draft of 1939 FW 558.32-565.16; follows on the same page the end of §4A.1; October-November 1925.
III§4H.0
First draft of 1939 FW 566.07-571.26; follows §4F.0; October-November 1925.
III§4L.0
First draft of 1939 FW 572.07-576.09 (this first draft begins on 1939 FW 572.21); October-November 1925.
III§4P.0
First draft of 1939 FW 578.03-585.21; a direct continuation of 4N.0+; October-November 1925.
III§4P.0+
Redraft of passage on fols. 18v-19r; October-November 1925.
  • MS: BL 47482a, fol. (19v)
  • JJA 60 (Book III Chapter 4): 174
  • Notebooks used: N19 (VI.B.19)
III§4Q.0
First draft of 1939 FW 585.22-587.02; October-November 1925.
III§4R.0/4S.0
First draft of 1939 FW 587.03-588.34 (preceded by an unused passage), 588.35-589.11; October-November 1925
III§4R.0+
Redraft of 1939 FW 587.03-588.34, preceded by an unused passage; October-November 1925.
  • MS: BL 47482a, fols. (25v), (26v), (27v)
  • JJA 60 (Book III Chapter 4): 208-210
  • Notebooks used: N18 (VI.B.8)°
III§4T.0'
Abandoned passage; October-November 1925.
  • MS: BL 47482a, fols. (7v), (6v)
  • JJA 60 (Book III Chapter 4): 211-212
  • Notebooks used: N18 (VI.B.8)
III§4T.0
First draft of 1939 FW 589.12-590; October-November 1925.
III§4T.0+
Redraft of 1939 FW 589.12-590; October-November 1925.
III§4N.1/4P.1/4Q.1/4R.1/4S.1/4T.1
First fair copy of 1939 FW 577.36-578.02(see III§4N.0+ for opening line), 578.03-585.21, 585.22-587.02, 587.03-588.34 (preceded by an unused passage), 588.35-589.11, 589.12-590; October-November 1925.
  • MS: BL 47482a, fols. 28r, / (28r), 29r, 30r, 31r, 32r, 33r, 34r, 35r, 36r, 37r, 38r, 39r, 40r, 41r, 42r, 43r, 44r, 45r, 46r, 47r, / 48r, 49r, 50r, 51r, / (51r), 52r, 53r, 54r, / (54r), 55r, / (55r), 56r, 57r, 58r, 59r
  • JJA 60 (Book III Chapter 4): 215-247
  • Notebooks used: SA (VI.A)°, N17 (VI.B.9)°, N18 (VI.B.8), N19 (VI.B.19), N20 (VI.B.13)
III§4R.1+
Redraft of fol. 53r (1939 FW 587.20-588.32); October-November 1925.
  • MS: BL 47482a, fols. 52v, (53v)
  • JJA 60 (Book III Chapter 4): 248-249
  • Notebooks used: SA (VI.A)°, N19 (VI.B.19)
III§4R.1++
Redraft of fols. 52r, 52v (1939 FW 587.03-588.28); October-November 1925.

III.4 Drafts

The second stage, piecing Dd together, was made especially difficult by the state of Joyce's eyes. He was due to go into hospital for an operation to remove a secondary cataract, but he kept postponing this while he worked (see Letters III, 21 November, 23 November, 1925). When he finally stopped (see Letters, III, 5 December 1925), the fair copy was still not ready.
III§4.2 (See also §4.2+ and §4.2++)
Fair copy (ink) subjected to much redrafting (see following draft stages); some pages are in the hand of Lucia Joyce (see Letters, III, 23 November, 1925); November-early December 1925. As Joyce was incapacitated during most of December-January 1925-26, the preparation and revision of the fair copy began again in late January or early February 1926 and continued into the early Spring (see Letters I, 20 January, and III, 5 March, 1926).
III§4.2χ
Extradraft material for fols. 33r, 35r; early 1926.
  • MS: BL 47482a, fol. 56v
  • JJA 60 (Book III Chapter 4): 281
  • Notebooks used: N20 (VI.B.13)
III§4.2+
Redrafts of fols. 29r-5r, 7r (partly), 30r-32r, 33r-35r (partly), 35r, 37r-38r, 39r, 40r, 41r (see above draft stages); Spring 1926.
III§4.2++
Redrafts of fols. 34r, 36r (see above draft); Spring 1926.
III§4.2++χ
Predraft for addition on fol. 11r {page also contains note for III.3).
  • MS: BL 47482a, fol. (2v)
  • JJA 60 (Book III Chapter 4): 297
III§4.3 (See also §4.3′)
Typescript (missing), made by Lily Bollach, numbered [80]-[?113] to conform with 1A.7/1D.7//2A.7/2B.5/2C.7 and 3A.6/3B.6; revised March-May 1926 (see Letters, III, 17 April, SIF, 5 May, I, 21 May and 7 June, 1926).
III§4.3'
List of corrections for typescript on Hotel de l'Océan paper (end of August/ beginning of September 1926) and additional revision (‘mayo’ to ‘mayom’ for TS page 111 (line 22) included in a letter to Sylvia Beach dated 2 September 1926.
  • MS: Buffalo X.B.73
  • JJA 60 (Book III Chapter 4): not reproduced
  • Notebooks used: N23(VI.B.12)°
III§4.3+
Typescript of late corrections also written in on above draft and for III.1-3. The page numbers involved are listed in N23 (VI.B.12):128(a) and N23 (VI.B.12):145(a); probably September 1926 (see Letters, Beach, 2 September and 11 September, 1926).
  • MS: Buffalo VI.H.1, fol. (1r)
  • JJA 60 (Book III Chapter 4): 298
Apart from a small number of corrections (see above drafts) Joyce finished with Book III at the beginning of June 1926. He began to work on a piece originally entitled “The Triangle” (see II.2§8, but later renamed “The Muddest Thick that was Ever Heard Dump”), for Wyndham Lewis's review The Tyro or, as it became in 1927, The Enemy (in the event, Lewis did not publish the piece). Joyce only returned to Book III in 1928 to get it ready for publication in transition, beginning in February 1928 for III.1-2, continuing in April 1928 for III.3, and after another long pause, in September 1929 for III.4 (see following draft). To enable him to revise III.4, his eyes again being bad, he had the episode typed again all in capital letters.

transition proofs

III§4.4 (See also §4.4+)
Second typescript, large format, of which only five pages are extant; September-October 1929.
  • MS: missing, BL 47485, fols. 48r, missing, 49r (= BL 47477, fol. 39v), missing, 50r, missing, 51r, missing, 52r (= BL 47477, fol. 7v), missing.
  • JJA 60 (Book III Chapter 4): [missing], 326, [missing], 327, [missing], 328, [missing], 329, [missing], 330
  • Notebooks used: N17 (VI.B.9)°, N32 (VI.B.23), N34 (VI.B.27)
III§4.4'
Carbons of the second (large-format) typescript, an incomplete and unrevised set on the versos of which Joyce later (October 1930-January 1931) composed several first drafts of segments of II.1 (viz., §2.0, §3.0, §3.1, and §4.0).
  • MS: missing, BL 47477, fols. 43v, 42v, missing, 40v, 39v, missing, 36v, 35v, 34v, 38v, 33v, missing, 41v, 21v, 20v, 19v, 18v, 13v, 12v, 17v, 16v, 11v, 15v, 14v, 10v, 9v, missing, 8v, 7v, 6v
  • JJA 60 (Book III Chapter 4): [missing], 300-301, [missing], 302-303, [missing], 304-308, [missing], 309-322, [missing], 323-325
III§4.4+
Retyped versions of 48r-52r; September-October 1929.
  • MS: BL 47485, fols. 43r, 44r, 45r, 46r, 47r
  • JJA 60 (Book III Chapter 4): 331-335
III§4.5 (See also §4.5+)
First proofs (missing) for transition 18, dated by the printer 5 October 1929 (for a reproduction of page 9 (f39 566.17-570.21; f10 441.01-444.07) of this set, consult D. McMillan, Transition 1927-1938 [London, 1975], or Herbert Gorman, James Joyce [New York, 1948, reprinted 1974]). Many of the additions at this and possibly the next draft stage can be found in predraft (as opposed to notebook) form in N34 (VI.B.27) pp. 134-141.
III§4.5'
First proofs (duplicates) for transition 18; no revision, but a few misprints corrected; dated by the printer 5 October 1929.
  • MS: Princeton (Beach 145), pp. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24; Buffalo VI.G.1, p. 25
  • JJA 60 (Book III Chapter 4): 339-363
III§4.5+
Corrections to the above draft or to the following draft found on a holograph page reproduced in Herbert Gorman, James Joyce (New York, 1948, reprinted 1974); October 1929.
  • MS: probably private.
  • JJA 60 (Book III Chapter 4): not reproduced
  • Notebooks used: N35 (VI.B.24)°.
III§4.6
Second proofs of transition 18, or possibly later revisions for above draft; missing; mid-October 1929 (see Letters, I, 19 October 1929).
transition 18 was published in November 1929. As it was being printed, Joyce began work (see III§3B.10) on getting the City piece ready for separate publication as Haveth Childers Everywhere, a companion to Anna Livia Plurabelle.
Between late August and November 1931, the first samples of his book (whose title had not yet been disclosed) printed from selected pages of transition 1 and 15 began to arrive (see JJA 61, Book III transition Pages, pp. 658-666, and Letters, III, 15 October, BLHW, 28 October, 4 November, III, 21 November, and 22 November, 1931).

Copy for Faber and Faber

In preparing copy of Book III for the printer of Finnegans Wake Joyce collected and numbered, in the sequence they appear in the final text, pages from transition 12, 13, 15, and 18, pages from the ‘Ondt and the Gracehoper’ episode in Two Tales of Shem and Shaun, and pages from Haveth Childers Everywhere.

At least two, but possibly three, sets were involved. The first one (or two) were brought over to Faber and Faber by Maria Jolas at the end of January 1936 (see Letters, III, 27 January and NLFF, 3 February 1936). This was followed shortly afterwards by a typed list of further corrections (see III§4.7+++ below). In June, the full MS (together with the equivalent Book I copy) was carried back to Paris by T.S. Eliot so that handwritten revisions could be typed (see Letters, NLFF, 17 April and 7 May, 1936). This work was completed and the MSS returned to London by Lucie Léon mid-July 1936 (see Letters, NLFF, 3 July and 12 July, 1936).

Dating the revisions themselves is more problematical. The collecting and assembly of the material appears to have begun in the autumn of 1931 (see Letters, III 27 October 1931). It is likely that Joyce undertook the first stage of revision in or around 1933-34. He started again the summer of 1935 (see III§4.7'χ below). Another fallow period followed (see Letters, NLHW, 13 September 1935), until finally, with Léon's help, he got the whole, very complex material ready for delivery to London in early 1936.

III§4.7 (See also §4.7′, §4.7+, §4.7+′, §4.2+ and §4.7++)
Marked pages of transition 18; 1933-1935.
III§4.7χ
Extradraft notes (Sheets III) for the additions to the first set of marked transition pages for Book III. Switzerland-Paris, Summer-Winter 1933. The specific chapter (Da, b, c, d = III.1,2,3,4) to which each note or group of notes refers is indicated (not always correctly) in pencil. From the inclusion among these notes of certain material used in Book II (see, for example, §1.0χ, §1.5+χ, II.2§3.7χ, and §8.12χ) and from Buffalo notebook evidence, it is likely that Joyce compiled the notes in 1933-1934; some (if not all) of the pages were sent to Harriet Shaw Weaver in July 1934.
  • MS: BL 47486a, fols. 3r-v, 4r, 5r, 6r, 7r-v, 8r, 10r-v, 11r-v, 12r, 13r, 14r, 15r, 16r, 17r, 18r, 19r, 20r, 21r, 22r, 23r, 24r, 25r-v, 26r-v, 27r-v, 28r-v, 29r-v, 30r-v, 31r-v, 32r, 33r, 34r-v, 35r, 36r, 37r, 39r-v, 40r, 41r-v, 42r-v, 43r-v, 44r, 45, 46r, 47r, 48r, 49r, 50r, 51r, 52r, 53r, 54r, 56r, 57r, 58r, 59r, 60r-v, 61r-v, 63r, 64r, 65r, 66r, 67r, 68r, 220r-v, 221r-v, 224r-v, 225r; MS: BL 47478, fol. 82r
  • JJA 61 (Book III transition Pages): 117-204
  • Notebooks used: VI.C.1, VI.C.2, VI.C.3
III§4.7+
Typescript of additions on above pages of transition 18.
  • MS: BL 47486a, fols. 177r, 178r, 179r, 180r, 181r, 182r
  • JJA 61 (Book III transition Pages): 250-255
III§4.7'
Second set (missing) of pages of transition 18 (or possibly holograph sheets of additions keyed to the third set); with new overlay and (possibly) keyed to the typescript of additions to the first set (see preceding draft stages); Paris, 1935.
III§4.7'χ
Extradraft notes (Sheets V) used for the additions on the above (missing) draft and for further overlay on the typescript of the first set of additions. The specific chapter and (frequently) page number to which each note refers are indicated, not always correctly, in pencil (see Letters, NLHW, 19 July 1935); Paris, June-July 1935.
  • MS: BL 47486a, fols. 183r, 184r, 185r, 186r, 187r, 188r, 189r, 190r, 192r, 193r, 194r, 195r, 196r, 197r, 198r, 199r, 200r, 201r, 202r, 203r, 204r, 205r, 206r, 207r, 208r, 209r, 210r, 211r, 212r, 213r, 214r, 215r, 216r, 217r, 218r, 218v, 219r, 219v, (220r), (220v), (221v), 222r, 222v, 223r
  • JJA 61 (Book III transition Pages): 258-298
  • Notebooks used: N47 (VI.B.40), VI.C.2, VI.C.3, VI.C.5, VI.C.6
III§4.7'+
Third set of transition 18 pages; keyed to duplicate typescript (see below) of first set and to typescript of second set of additions; probably early 1936.
  • MS: BL 47486b, fols. 350r, 350v, 3S1r, 351v, 485r, 352r, (485r), 352v, (485r), 353r, 353v, 354r, (485r), 354v, 486r, 355r, 487r, 355v, 356r, (487r), 356v, 357r, 488r, 357v, (487r), 358r, 358v, (487r), 359r, 359v, 360r 360v 361r, 361v, 489r, 362r, 362v
  • JJA 61 (Book III transition Pages): 511-543
  • Notebooks used: N47 (VI.B.40), VI.C.5°, VI.C.6°, Sheets V
III§4.7+'
Duplicate typescript of first set of additions to transition 18; probably early 1936.
III§4.7'+'
Duplicate typescript of second set of additions to transition 18; probably early 1936.
  • MS: BL 47486a, fols. 295r, 296r, 297r, 298r, 299r
  • JJA 61 (Book III transition Pages): 619-623
III§4.7+''
Final additions (Sheets VI, missing), probably in listed format, to the Book III transitions; early 1936. See below for typescript.
III§4.7++
Long addition for FW 577.12-15 (missing), and typescript of final additions to the third set of transition 12, 13, 15 and 18 of which the original holograph is missing; in random page sequence; original Jan/Feb 1936. See above. See Sheets VI.
  • MS: BL 47486b, fols 500r, 501r, 502r, 503r, 504r, 505r, 506r, 507r, 508r, 509r
  • JJA 61 (Book III transition Pages): 627-636
  • Notebooks used: N47 (VI.B.40)
III§4.7++'
Duplicate (carbon) of above; with new overlay; early 1936.
  • MS: BL 47486b, fols. 510r, 511r, 509v, 512r, 513r, 514r, 515r, 516r, 517r, 518r, 519r
  • JJA 61 (Book III transition Pages): 637-647
III§4.7+++
New typescript of late additions, in correct page sequence; sent to Faber and Faber 16 February 1936 (see Letters, NLHW, 5 February and NLFF, 16 February, 1936).
  • MS: BL 47486b, fols. 498r, 499r
  • JJA 61 (Book III transition Pages): 655-656

Proofs for Finnegans Wake III.4 (FW, 555-590)

III§4.8 (See also §4.8+ and §4.8++)
Galleys 227-251 (first set) for Finnegans Wake. Dated by the printer 31 May 1937; revised 1937-1938.
III§4.8χ
Predraft versions of some of the overlay on the first set of galleys. See Sheet viii-18(b) and Sheet viii-19(b) et seq.; 1937-1938.
  • MS: BL 47487, fols. 136r, 137r
  • JJA 62 (Book III Galleys): 245-246
  • Notebooks used: N52 (VI.B.42), VI.C.7
III§4.8+
Galleys (second set, duplicate) for Finnegans Wake; 1938.
  • MS: BL 47487, fols. 242v ... 267r
  • JJA 62 (Book III Galleys): 444-489
  • Notebooks used: N54 (VI.B.45)
III§4.8++
Galleys (third set, duplicate) for Finnegans Wake, with some new additions on fols. 274r-v and 275r. Incomplete. Received by the printer 3 January 1939 (see Letters, NLFF, 3 January 1939).
  • MS: Missing, BL 47487, fols. 268r, 268v-269r, 269v-270r, 271r, 272r, 273r, 274r, 274v-275r, 275v-276r, 276v-277r
  • JJA 62 (Book III Galleys): not reproduced, 493-507

Page proofs for III.4 (FW, 555-590)

III§4.9 (See also §4.9+)
Page proofs for Finnegans Wake; January 1939.
III§4.9+
Typescript of some corrections made on the page proofs for Finnegans Wake; January 1939.
  • MS: BL 47488, fols. 236r, 237r, 238r
  • JJA 62 (Book III Galleys): 514-517
  • Notebooks used: N58 (VI.B.30)°

Errata for III.4 (1939 FW 555-590)

III§4.10
Errata for Finnegans Wake, begun in 1939 (see Letters, NLFF, 22 July, NLPL 10 August, 19 August, and NLFF, 30 August, 1939), involving marking up an unbound copy of the first edition (minimal corrections only as the paging could not be redone), and completed in the summer of 1940 at Saint Gerand-le Puy. The corrections were then typed in duplicate (Buffalo VI.H.4.b, c) or triplicate and given to Maria Jolas on 28 August, 1940 for delivery in New York to B.W. Huebsch of the Viking Press. The third copy was presumably sent to Faber and Faber.
  • MS: Buffalo VI.H.4.a pp. 555-590; Buffalo VI.H.4.b, fols. 28, 29; Buffalo VI.H.4.c, fols. 28, 29
  • JJA 62 (Book III Galleys): not reproduced; 526-527; not reproduced